Wolf Lake

A Canadian World of Darkness

Sound and Fury

When I think about Werewolf: The Forsaken, the first thing that comes to mind is not the “savage fury” that the cover of the core rulebook says the game is about. Though that is a part of it. No, what comes to mind is the essential hopelessness of the Uratha condition, that you and your children and your children’s children and so on fight an endless war. Their conflict has no resolution- even if the Pure and the Hosts were destroyed (a series of accomplishments so unlikely as to be impossible), the Shadow Realm itself is not simply going to go away. The only final ending for the Forsaken is defeat- victory, real, complete victory is impossible.

So where does that leave the Forsaken? The quote that always comes to mind for me is from MacBeth. When lamenting the situation his arrogance has gotten him into, MacBeth compares his life to a bad play, a “tale, told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” And so, the Forsaken, full of Rage and righteousness, fight the hopeless fight, but accomplish nothing of lasting value. The only meaning in their short, brutal lives is the meaning they create for themselves. That’s what I hope to explore in my Werewolf games.